Hurriyat to discuss offer for talks: PTI

The Hurriyat Conference executive council meets in Srinagar on Sunday for a crucial session to decide
whether or not to accept the Centre's offer for talks.

The council, the Hurriyat's highest decision-making body, will discuss the strategy to be adopted in the
aftermath of New Delhi ruling out tripartite talks involving Pakistan, a top Hurriyat source said.

The Centre's denial of travel documents to Hurriyat leaders for visiting Pakistan to hold talks with militant leaders will also figure in the meeting, he said. After Maulana Abbas Ansari's passport was cancelled, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was the only Hurriyat leader having travel documents.

The issue of Abdul Ghani Lone's remarks in Pakistan about foreign militants and the resultant controversy would also come up for discussion, the source said.

Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, while rejecting tripartite talks involving Pakistan recently has said, "We want to talk with our own people, as on earlier occasions we had spoken to Pakistan without results."

The source said the meeting was expected to be attended by all seven senior Hurriyat leaders, including former chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who insist on implementation of United Nations resolutions or tripartite talks.

The Hurriyat constitution requires the Kashmir issue to be solved either under the UN aegis or through tripartite talks involving Pakistan besides India and Kashmiris, he said.

"There is no third alternative. If either the implementation of the UN resolutions or tripartite talks fails to take place, talks on the Indian cease-fire are meaningless," he said.

Hurriyat chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat has warned that indiscipline would not be tolerated in the alliance. "Individuals or groups committing a breach of discipline will be thrown out of the alliance," he told the Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid in downtown Srinagar.